TIME IS MOVING SO QUICKLY

 Hello, friends!  Do you feel as if time is just flying by?  I sure do.  There aren't enough hours in the day to do all I need to do.

Today was Bible Study.  I started a four week study in the first two chapters of Matthew.  I used to think the genealogy in chapter one was so boring and I would skip over it.  Now I find it amazing.  I got into genealogy research with my own family and that has made me look at this list in a different way.  Some of the ladies told me that it was a very good lesson.  But another one thought it was boring.  Well, to each their own.

After Bible Study I swung by my house and picked up Joe.  We went to Target to get Joe's medicine and to get some groceries.  My knees were hurting me so much.  I find it extremely difficult to walk anymore, even holding onto the cart.  So I ended up sitting on a bench in the pharmacy area and Joe went to do the grocery shopping.  Usually I sit in the car in the parking lot waiting for him.  But the last time I did that, there were three men who surrounded my car.  I was very scared and was so thankful to see Joe approaching.  When they saw him, they left.  Now I go into the store with him.

There were only five things on the list, but he came back with a cart load of items.  That's Joe for you.  He got me three boxes of refrigerated sugar cookie dough in all sorts of holiday patterns.  That is going to be fun to make.  He also got chocolate chips and said he is going to make me cookies.

Joe tells a story about when he was a baker in the Marine Corps.  He made 3,000 chocolate chip cookies for the dessert at lunch.  He was a night baker, so he got off at 9:00 a.m. and went to bed.  About 11:00 a.m. he was woken up and asked why he didn't make the cookies.  He said he did.  He had spent hours the night before making them.  They were gone.  The morning bakers had come in and eaten them all.  So Joe had to get up and bake another 3,000 cookies.  He has not made a lot of chocolate chip cookies since then.  But he said he will make them for me.

I did stop in the Dollar Spot which is right inside of the front door of Target.  I got a couple of Christmas dish towels and a little gnome tree ornament.  I also got a couple of things for my sister's stocking.

Just one more day of November.  It hardly seems possible that 2022 is almost over.  Every year I say how fast time goes and every year it is true!

Today is my little great-grandson Walker's first birthday.  It hardly seems possible.  He is my grandson Colby's little boy.  And that hardly seems possible either because I think of Colby as a little boy himself.  But just look at how cute Walker is.  Every picture I see of him, he is smiling.

The sun has set.  It sets around 4:30 p.m. these days.  I am going to go get dinner started.  I'm having left over pork loin and a new carrot recipe that one of the ladies at Bible Study today told me about.  She said she cooks carrots in butter and lemon juice.  She was raving about it and it sounded good so I thought I would try it.  I have two carrots that need to be used up soon!

I will see you all later.  Hope you have a good night.

Kathy

I'M SO FRUSTRATED!

 Hello, friends.  Do you ever have one of those days?  How about one of those weeks.  Or months.  Or...

I'm just frustrated.  It's about 5 a.m. right now.  I woke up around 2 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to work on my church's YouTube channel.  I volunteered to do this.  I have been posting things for about 6 years now.  At first, I was pretty bad at it.  But now with my own YouTube channel I have gotten better.  Especially when I got an editing program that I can use for both channels.

What woke me up at 2:00 was someone sitting in their car outside blasting music.  And I do mean blasting.  It went on for about an hour.  I've heard of this happening on other streets in the neighborhood and have always considered myself lucky that it wasn't around here.  Well now it is.  I hope this was a one-time thing and that's the end of it.

Anyway, since I was wide awake, I decided to do some catching up.  Although I film the service every week, I have a bad habit of not posting it.  And now I have almost 20 videos I need to edit, find the information on it, and post.  I used to try to keep all the videos in order, but even that has gone by the wayside.  I am finding one video from February that I missed.  Another three from March.  And forget about the fall.

So, I began looking at my two cameras (yes two!) to figure out the dates and then I would go look at the old bulletins and find what the scripture and title of the sermon was.  That took a good 45 minutes to just date them.  And forget about going through hundreds of emails looking for the right week.

Then the program wouldn't work.  And the internet didn't want to cooperate.  Finally, after an hour I got one uploaded and posted.  Hurray!  Now for a second one.  If I do two a day, I can get all the back ones posted by next Monday or Tuesday.  Yes, an entire week.  But then I can start fresh for Advent and the new year.

It took me another hour to upload, edit, find the information and post the second one.  It was beautiful.  And...   I had already posted it a month ago and I had to delete the entire thing.  Aauugghh!

I have found the dates on all but one week.  I have them in chronological order in my holding file.  All I have to do now is find the information on that one post, listen to all of them so I can find out what the scripture and topic is, edit them and post them.

And why do I have all this work to do?  Because I am a procrastinator.  I am trying to get better and maybe this is my wake-up call.  I hope never to be in this position again.

Now to try to get a little more sleep before I have to get up and get Joe out of the house.  He is going out with our Pastor today.  For the whole day.  I'm not used to not having him in the house, so this will be unusual.  But I will try to get a lot done.

See you all later.  And don't procrastinate.

Kathy

FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT

 This is a week of Hope.

Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

THANKSGIVING

 

Hello, friends!  I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday.  I sure did.

The day before I had made my pumpkin pie and tried to clean up as much as possible.  It is a monumental task.  In fact, it is much bigger than I originally thought as I found out when I went to clean up the kitchen.  So many things I found there when I moved the chair we never use.  Wow!  You know what I am doing today.  Now I really have to clean.

I picked up my friend Donna around noon time.  She had been coming over in the morning to visit and then going to her cousin's house.  But that fell through, and she would never invite herself over.  But when she asked me to drop her off at McDonald's on the way home so she could get a sandwich for dinner I immediately told her she was going to eat with us.  That led to the great kitchen clean up.

Donna brought a cheese babka and a box of Walker shortbread cookies shaped like little sheep.  It was fun to sit and nibble and talk.  

Joe left to go visit his niece for an hour or so.  I was invited but didn't go.  Instead, Donna and I sat and watched "The Great British Baking Show -- Christmas Edition" and talked.  And talked.  We were still doing this when Joe got back.  He watched the show with us and then went down the street to 7-11 to get us bottles of water.  We never did get to the store to get a case of water.  He came back with water, soda and iced tea.  Then it was time for dinner.

I had gotten a turkey breast tenderloin at Lidl's when I went the other week.  I had never seen a turkey tenderloin and wasn't sure how it would turn out.  I made it in the air fryer just like I do a pork tenderloin.  It turned out fantastically!  So good.  And I don't like turkey.  But I would definitely buy it again.  I also had stuffing, green beans, gravy and jellied cranberry sauce shaped like a can.  Because as we say in my family, "It's not really cranberry sauce if it's not shaped like a can."  Everything was fantastic!  For dessert was the pumpkin pie and it was so good also.

I took Donna home about 6:30 p.m.  It was such a fun day and I so enjoyed it.  

But starting today is the great Christmas clean up.  We are going to do our best to get things under control in a month.  Yikes!  What am I getting myself into?  I know it will be worth it in the end.  I am going to get a lot of junk out of the house.  I am.  No, really, I am.  *sigh*

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It is such a wonderful holiday giving thanks to God and spending time with friends and family.

Sorry I've been so sick and so busy that I haven't gotten to a lot of your blogs.  But I will try to catch up during the next few weeks.  Thank you so much for reading this and sticking with me.  Only one doctor appointment next week and that is for Joe.  The following week my doctors start up again.  It's tough when you have three or four doctor appointments in one week.

It's 6:30 a.m. and I am going to start my day.  See you all soon.

Kathy

PIE AND PRAISE 2022

 I'm finding it difficult to believe that it is the end of November already and that Thanksgiving is just two days away.  I have so much to do to get ready for it.  And after that is Christmas.  I have a feeling that it also will come too quickly and I am definitely not ready.  I have no idea what to get anyone. Well... Joe is already finished.  He needed a new suit and wanted it for our 100th Anniversary.  So I bought it for him and he wore it.  I told him that is his Christmas gift.  Of course I will give him little things but that is it for this year because it was so expensive.

I bought myself a gift too.  I got Mike Pence's new book So Help Me God on the date of publication.  As a library person I love getting a book on the day it is published.  There is just something about it that thrills me.  I started to read it, but it is so thick that I know it will take me awhile.  It's interesting what I have read so far.  I'm not very far into it though.

Last Sunday night was our Pie and Praise celebration at church.  There were about twice the amount of people that were there last year.  First we had a short devotional where various people told what they were thankful for.  God has been so good to our congregation this past year.  It was amazing to hear all the stories.  Then it was time for pie.

I made an apple pie.  There was also pumpkin pie, key lime pie and cheesecake.  (Is that a pie?)  People were helping themselves to more than one kind.  I had apple and pumpkin.  Everyone told me how much they liked my pie so I guess I did a good job.  I thought it was a little too sweet but who was I to argue with the people who were telling me it was so good.

I meant to take pictures.  I even made sure my camera was fully charged.  But I was having such a good time talking with my friends that I totally forgot all about it until everyone was cleaning up.  Oops!  But my life isn't all about taking pictures and sometimes catching up with someone I haven't seen in six months is more important.

My friend Carol showed up.  Although I talk with her just about every week, we haven't gotten together since the spring.  It was really fun seeing her.  She has let her hair grow out and it looked really cute.

Next Sunday starts the Advent season.  Then it's Christmas.  And then the New Year.  Another year that has just totally flown by.  It seems as if the older I get, the faster time goes.  I hope the winter goes quickly too although the temperatures haven't been all that bad this year.

Now I'm just starting to ramble, so I am going to end.  Have a wonderful next few days and I hope you will be able to spend it with those you love.  See you soon.

Kathy

IT'S VETERAN'S DAY AND A HURRICANE IS ON THE WAY

 

Hello, friends!  Welcome to a cloudy and soon to be rainy day.  Hurricane Nicole is headed our way.  What a wonderful way to celebrate our veterans.  Not.  But we will make the best of it anyway.

Joe wanted to go to East Coast Wings for lunch to get his free veterans' meal.  But...  with the storm coming we decided to just take a ride over to Wawa and get either sandwiches or a turkey bowl and eat at home.

Still, I will put up our flag and remember those who put it all on the line for us.  Some who even gave their lives for us.  There are many veterans in my family and now that I have married Joe, even more men and women to remember.

My father, uncle, father-in-law and Joe were all Marines.  My brother David and many others in my family were in the Army.  My step-father was in the Navy and I worked as a civilian for the Navy.  My brother Mike was also in the Navy and so was my friend Paulette.  My brother Joe was in the Coast Guard.  And the farther back in my family tree I go, the more soldiers, sailors and Marines I find.  I am so privileged to have them as a part of my family.

Yesterday Joe and I went to Lidl to do our food shopping.  I really like Lidl even though I can't find everything I need there and still have to go to Shoprite for some items.  But we still save money by doing it that way.  Our Lidl is very small but packed with great stuff that you can't find anywhere else.  I like that it is like shopping in a European grocery store.

I should have taken pictures before I put things away.  But I did make a video which just went up on my YouTube page.  Here is the link.

The main thing I went for was the eggs.  My cousin had put up on Facebook that she paid over $5 for eggs at Shoprite.  I went searching and found them for $2.23 at Lidl.  We were able to get two dozen for less than the price of one dozen at Shoprite.  There was a sign on the door of the refrigerator where the eggs were that said there were supply chain problems with getting eggs and limited them to two dozen per customer.  

We were also able to get a turkey breast tenderloin.  I had never seen one before.  I'm sure you have seen the pork tenderloins that are sold.  This looked just like it except that it was turkey.  We got stuffing mix, gravy, green beans and cranberry sauce.  I'm pretty sure we are going out for dinner on Thanksgiving, but this is great for the next day because we won't have any leftovers.  If we don't go out, though, it will be a great Thanksgiving dinner.  Everything is still up in the air.

I am going to end now and start my day.  So much to do.  I's so dark in the morning now as well as in the evening.  Sunrise today is 6:41 a.m. and sunset is 4:47 p.m.  Only 10 hours of sunlight.  This is just the beginning.  It will get worse before it gets better.  How I miss the long days of summer.

Take care everyone.  I will talk to you soon.

Kathy

100 YEARS

 

Hello, friends.  Sorry I've been MIA lately.  And thank you to those who reached out to me wondering where I was.  I really appreciate that.  

We have been having wonderful weather here.  Sunny and up in the high 70*F.  Almost summer.  It has been nice to run out without my coat in November.  Unfortunately, this wonderful weather broke this morning.  It is in the 40s now.  Cold!  The weather report on TV said to go find my jacket.

I have been not posting lately because I (and a lot of other people in my church) have been busy with the 100th Anniversary of the church I attend.  Of course the denomination is much older, but the date on our cornerstone is 1922.  We celebrated this past Sunday and have spent an entire year planning it.  But of course as time got shorter, things got more hectic.  The walls of the sanctuary were repaired and painted.  New lights were installed in the sanctuary and Fellowship Hall.  A caterer was hired.  Information letters and invitations sent out.  And the ladies cleaned the entire church.  Everything from washing the windowsills to cleaning the carpets and shampooing the upholstery on the chairs.  Everything was sparkling.  Because of my legs I didn't do as much as others, but we were all busy.

The result, though, was wonderful.  We had visitors from about 10 other congregations in our denomination including the former pastor of our mother church.  This congregation was in another part of the city, but saw a need in our neighborhood and sent people to start a work there.  And here we are 100 years later.

There were three pastors who gave a message each.  We had the daughter of the man who was our pastor back in the 1940s come to visit along with some of her friends who accepted Christ as their savior in our church.  We had lots of people who used to attend come back to celebrate.  So many people so happy for us.

After the service we went to the hall to have a catered luncheon.  The food was wonderful!  There was beef with mushrooms in a delicious sauce.  There was chicken breast with roasted vegetables.  There was also a vegetarian option which I took.  Grilled asparagus, roasted eggplant with garlic, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots...  Yum.  I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it.  I thought of it after I had eaten.  Oh well.  There was also a salad bar and an area with rolls and butter.  Iced tea.  Hot tea.  Hot coffee.  And four bottles of soda.  For dessert there were two chocolate chip cakes from our local bakery.  So good.  They also gave us three German Apple cakes for free.

Of course you want to see pictures.  Yes?  Well here they are.  Prepare for picture overload.

Here are some pictures of the people who attended.

I got a picture of Joe walking down the aisle.

I got some more pictures of the congregation.  It was good to see so many there.

Krystal saw me taking pictures and struck a pose.

There was plenty of food for everyone.

And here are the cakes.

I record the message every Sunday.  Because this was a special Sunday, I wanted to get the entire thing.  I got a new SD card for my camera so I would have plenty of room.  Then I fully charged two batteries.  But...  My charger must be dying.  Although they read as fully charged, they weren't.  Each lasted about 18 minutes and died.  I kept running into the library where I had the charger plugged in and switching the batteries.  What a mess!

So the video is all chopped up into small parts.  And I ended up leaving parts out like the singing.  I was so disappointed.  There were also people sitting next to me who were talking, phones going off, people walking in front of the camera, etc.  In spite of it all, I got a fairly decent video.  I am going to edit it today and hopefully get it up tomorrow.  It is going to be a big editing job.  I have to put all these little parts together and take out parts where people are talking and you can't hear the speaker.  I figure it will take me at least three hours to do it.  But that's OK.  I figure that it will still turn out decent.

That's it for right now.  I have to get myself ready for teaching Bible Study this morning.  Then we have to go vote and have to go food shopping.  Another busy day.

See you all soon.

Kathy